The present disclosure relates to beverage making equipment, namely, beverage making equipment which utilizes heated water and dispenses heated water from a heated water reservoir to a beverage making substance.
A variety of beverage making devices utilize a heated water reservoir to retain a volume of water in a heated condition for use in making beverages. Water can be controllably dispensed from the reservoir to a holder or container which contains a quantity of beverage making substance. The heated water is combined with the beverage making substance to produce a beverage. In such a beverage making machine, the reservoir can operate in a gravity feed mode of operation or a pressurized mode of operation. Also, one of the conditions associated with the heating of water is the evolution or out-gassing of gas which might be retained in the water. For example, at lower temperatures the water may have some portion of gas dissolved into the water. Heating may release the gas or otherwise evolve the gas through chemical processes. One of the problems with the gas which is created during the heating of the water is that it can be introduced into the beverage making process. Introduction of gas to the beverage making process has little or no currently known direct effect on the beverage making substance or the beverage produced thereby. The gas, however, can have an effect on the beverage making process.
Gas which evolves or otherwise comes out of the water in the reservoir may be vented through a venting device on the reservoir. If the reservoir does not include a venting device or if the gas evolves in other components of the reservoir and beverage making apparatus the gas may accumulate and interfere with the dispensing of heated water from the reservoir. In this regard, a line or tube is connected to the reservoir and extends from the reservoir to a spray head which dispenses the heated water over the beverage making substance in the holder. Gas may evolve in the line or may be introduced into the line and if retained in the line in sufficient quantity may introduce a variable which could have a negative effect on the brewing process.
Gas introduced into the line and retained in the line may be inconsistent, may break up or pass through the line and reform, or other undesirable conditions. Regardless, the presence of gas in the line can be problem because it reduces the flow volume through the line. The reduction in flow volume through the line is detrimental to the brewing process since the machine may be configured to dispense a volume of water based on the time a valve associated with the dispensing process is opened. In other words, at least one valve is provided in the process for control of water through the heated water reservoir. In this regard, if the time of the valve opening is held generally consistent the expectation would be that a generally consistent volume of water would be dispensed. However, if a portion of the dispense line is blocked, obstructed or otherwise occupied by gas, the volume dispensed will be inconsistent with the expected volume dispensed. Further, the volume dispensed will be inaccurate or may be in accurate as a result of the bubble forming, passing through, reforming and presenting indifferent gas volumes during different brew cycles. The existence of gas in the line introduces a variable which is not controllable. The variable can introduce inconsistencies in the beverage brewed since the characteristics of the brewed beverage are directly related to the volume of water used in the brewing process.
Further, inaccurate dispensing of water may introduce cost inefficiencies. While the cost and efficiency per cycle may be somewhat nominal, cumulatively the cost and efficiencies can be somewhat significant. In this regard, shorting a brewing cycle of the amount of water will reduce the number of cups produced. Reducing the number of cups produced per charge of beverage making substance, will reduce the profit produced. Again, while this may not seem significant on a per cycle basis, cumulatively, for exampled over numerous franchise operations, this could be a significant number. The reduction and the inconsistencies in the water flowing through the line can be reduced by eliminating the gas accumulation in the line.